Breakaway embarkation questions

[shof515]

why do you take the tunnel if you live so close to LGA?

 

just hop on the 57th street bridge

 

because that bridge sucks. Always filled with traffic no matter what time of day of day it is. My job is near Queens Plaza and all i see is nothing but traffic

[RickinNYC]

why do you take the tunnel if you live so close to LGA?

 

just hop on the 57th street bridge

 

We take either the tunnel OR the bridge. We're equidistant to both, so we'll take whichever has less traffic.

[RickinNYC]

because that bridge sucks. Always filled with traffic no matter what time of day of day it is. My job is near Queens Plaza and all i see is nothing but traffic

 

And this too.

[BuffetPantsPls]

And this too.

 

except he's wrong

 

https://www.google.com/maps/@40.7460243,-73.9492502,14z/data=!5m1!1e1

 

queens midtown tunnel is showing a 10-15 minute delay

 

queensboro bridge has no traffic.

 

and neither does the williamsburg currently

[OriginalFlamingo]

Just to share my experiences with travel to ports. I have only cruised three times. The first time, we booked everything through the cruise line, and we didn't have any problems. This isn't because we booked through the cruise line, we just didn't have any problems.

 

Now, having been a CC member for some time, the next cruise, we were leaving from Houston. We flew down the day before the cruise - luckily. Somehow, my luggage got lost! It was delivered to our hotel room the evening we arrived, but if that had been cruise day, I would have been traveling with no luggage!

 

The most recent time we cruised, we were on the BA from NYC last month. We were scheduled to fly into NYC on Friday morning on the early flight, getting to LGA at approximately 10:15 a.m. We got a call the evening before, telling us that our flight had been cancelled, and we were rescheduled on a 10:45 flight, getting us to LGA around 2:30 p.m. When we got to the airport that morning (3 hours before our flight), the lines were tremendous! We checked in with no seats at the kiosks and went to the gate. The new flight was delayed twice, getting us to our hotel at around 5:00 p.m. This was 2 days before the cruise, but if it had been the day of the cruise, we would have missed the ship!

 

I have well learned my lesson....I will never fly into a port on the day of a cruise!

[Dblack87]

I live very near LGA (5minutes or 10 in traffic), there is almost no way you can make it to the port from LGA by 2pm to check in if you have a 12:30 flight. By the time the flight lands, taxis, and you pick up your luggage, you'll be lucky to get in the taxi line by 1:15. It is a minimum of 45 minutes to the cruise terminal (even though google maps says 30), trust me you do not want to chance it! If anything at all goes wrong, you'll miss the cruise, and there are a lot of little things that are common to go wrong.

[chiapet]

Despite the varying opinions regarding this subject ... I believe that we can ALL agree ... that we would NOT want to be in this particular situation ... IF we could do anything to help it :p

[wasiii]

.....but you know what? It's better she finds out now about the pitfalls of her flight time now while she still has a chance to change it if she so desires. Like I said earlier, I would fly in the day before to help eliminate mishaps, not everyone can do it though.

 

JMTC

 

wasiii

[RickinNYC]

except he's wrong

 

https://www.google.com/maps/@40.7460243,-73.9492502,14z/data=!5m1!1e1

 

queens midtown tunnel is showing a 10-15 minute delay

 

queensboro bridge has no traffic.

 

and neither does the williamsburg currently

 

 

Meh. What do I know. I've only been living in Queens and working in Manhattan for 25 years.

 

 

Sent using the Cruise Critic forums app

[BuffetPantsPls]

Meh. What do I know. I've only been living in Queens and working in Manhattan for 25 years.

 

 

Sent using the Cruise Critic forums app

 

meh, 30 years for me.

[TravelJoe]

.....but you know what? It's better she finds out now about the pitfalls of her flight time now while she still has a chance to change it if she so desires. Like I said earlier, I would fly in the day before to help eliminate mishaps, not everyone can do it though.

 

JMTC

 

wasiii

 

Exactly the purpose of these forums -- to share information and help each other out that may not have knowledge of something.

 

If Ladybug can change her flight and even get a cheap hotel, the cost of both would be less than the cost of the trip (unless she has insurance), not to mention the disappointment of not sailing!

 

Forewarned is forearmed.

 

.

[mking8288]

Now that we've hosed OP's idea of getting to MCT by 2PM, let's take 3 steps backward at the bigger picture for them to see what if's. Checked all available flight options PIT to LGA on all Sundays for this September, earlier non-stops are sold out, except for a 9:45 AM that arrive at 11:23 AM - a Delta Connections (flown by regional partner) & priced slightly higher. Problem is that OP most likely cannot cancel & re-book without penalties.

 

Most likely aircraft is a CRJ200 or Canadair Bombardier twin-engine commuter jet, single aisle with 2 by 2 seating, 1 AFT single bathroom closet shared among 70 pax (and crew) - seat-belts sign on for most if not the entire flight. Limited & small overhead bin space but space for a small roller or personal bag (small daypack, not those big packpack) under the seat in front of you. Boarding by zone/group - so top dogs/elites and FT will get to board & fill up 2/3 of the limited OHB space by the time they call zone 3 & 4 for the "kettles." If the flight is full and usually is booked solid with standby's = maybe room for only 35 to 40 rollers or spinners (keep in mind crew & FA's are stored up there too.) If and once they announced at the gate/podium that bags are being checked for free due to a full flight, DO it quick & make sure ID/info are secured both on the tag and inside in case it's lost or mis-routed. To balance & distribute the plane's weight evening, they must weight & spread out the loads (both pax & luggage) to do final calculations for fuel to load & come up with burn rates and reserves, etc.

 

Even when there's room for MLC that's airline-compliant at 22" by 14" by 9" - they will NOT fit into small overheads and must be (gate) checked with the airline - my understanding is that most of time, these bags are delivered out to the luggage carousal on arrival, which is a short 5 to 10 minutes out from the jetbridge and NOT on the tarmac. Make sure it's tagged properly or you will be waiting & filing for a missing luggage report, and worst, sail without your belongings and/or missed the sailing cutoff time. Cross-pack each other's items in one's carry-on & bags.

 

From US Air (flown by Air Wisconsin) - Maximum carry-on dimensions for the CRJ is:

Underseat: 17Lx32Wx11H inches Overhead: 15Lx16Wx8H inches

 

OP must and need to do OLCI 4 days+ before sailing as they will be required to be at the pier's by 3 PM to check-in, 1 hour before scheduled sailing time of 4 PM for Bermuda. Otherwise, the cutoff is 2 PM. OLCI is easy and that's how most of us do it. Whew, an extra 60 minutes to cushion the rush to get to the pier. Have the ship's phone # & contact info ready & stored, if you are late but en route, caught in traffic, etc. and still rushing to try to get there before 4 PM - CALL them A.S.A.P to tell them & see what they say and whether they might be waiting for you along with others possibly delayed. If weather is a factor for the region's airports, those booked on NCL Air are equally likely to be delayed & they will usually HOLD & wait for their late arrival.

 

Looked at this morning's weekday flight patterns & air traffic, the DCA-PIT flight left the gates 10 minutes early & landed early. With typical shuttle servicing, it turned around to leave PIT gate early by a few minutes and landed at LGA around 12:07 PM ("wheels" down) and at the gate @12:14 PM (that's 25 minutes early for its published 12:39 PM arrival time) That's a much better window in making it to the pier - fingers crossed. Historically, on time performance is 76% for the flights, the average delay time is 47 minutes AND that's not so good.

 

Unless OP has top dog/elite status & seated in the forward section, it will take 5 to 10 minutes to exit to the jetbridge and wait/look for the luggage (if delivered on the spot) or else, 5 to 10 minutes walk down to Arrival downstairs to locate the luggage carousal to pickup the bags. Then, walk outside to join the taxi lines (except for late night, there's ALWAYS a long line) or wait for the car service to pull up as arranged (Carmel or Dial7 might be faster ??)

 

Traffic on the Ed Koch (59th Street) Bridge or inside the Queens Midtown Tunnel itself is only a small part of the equation for getting from LGA to MCT on 12th Avenue. To get to the Ed Koch Bridge from LGA, it involved stop-n-go for easily 20+ local traffic lights & stop signs in Queens alone plus the routine congestions on the bridge itself, and, another 10 or more stops for traffic lights in Manhattan going cross-town.

 

At midday today, Google Maps/NAV is showing the following based on real-time & integrated traffic flow data from LGA to MCT

Suggested routes

 

1. 11.4 mi, 23 mins
   In current traffic: 31 mins
   NY-9A S (that's Grand Central to RFK Bridge to 125th St to West Side Hwy)
   
2. 10.5 mi, 25 mins
   In current traffic: 41 mins
   I-495 W (that's via GC to LIE to QMT and cross-town & up to MCT)
   
3. 8.0 mi, 26 mins
   In current traffic: 50 mins
   E 57th St (that's via GC to 31 Stree to Crescent St to lower level of Ed Koch Bridge, down 2nd. Avenue & right on 57th Street crosstown to MCT)
   

Surprise & Surprise - something I learned from the Carmel drivers long ago, they got us to MCT in 30 minutes coming from NE Queens, 10 minutes further away from LGA on a weekend with very light traffic @ 10 AM - well worth the extra $5.33 extra in EZ-Pass Toll in time saved. The mostly highway options via I-495 or GCP to 125th St to WSH/Rt.9W-S bypassed about 20 traffic lights.

 

And, there's always the overnight MegaBus option from PIT to NY, downtown to down - booking is open only to Sept 7th - 2 one-ways quoted for $80 total, 8.5 hours on the bus with 1 stop.

[Dblack87]

What a nice and well thought out post! I was going to stop back by this thread and suggest maybe taking a bus. It's not ideal, but it would at least guarantee not missing the boat!

[ladybugk04]

Just wanted to let everyone know it can be done. I made it on the boat in time. I ended up scheduling a airport transfer with NCL and made it there by 2:00.

[bluesea777]

Just wanted to let everyone know it can be done. I made it on the boat in time. I ended up scheduling a airport transfer with NCL and made it there by 2:00.

 

Way to go!! Great idea! Glad you made the ship!

 

How was Bermuda? ;)

[newNCLcruiser2010]

[quote name='ladybugk04']Just wanted to let everyone know it can be done. I made it on the boat in time. I ended up scheduling a airport transfer with NCL and made it there by 2:00.[/QUOTE]
I'm trying to decide between using an NCL transfer to Laguardia or using Carmel car service for my Breakaway cruise in November. Can you tell me what NCL charged you to get from cruise terminal to airport?